Wednesday, June 13, 2012

THE BLACK CASTLE - "Serenata No.13" (1952)

What can I say about a film this classic that you haven't read, heard or seen before? If you haven't seen it, please do so, you can find it on Netflix, and if you have seen it, then watch it again, I'm sure that just like me, you've probably forgotten how good a film it really is!

Here's the star of the movie, William Castle's granddaddy, "The Black Castle" itself!

Besides the people that dwell here, The Castle has issues of it's own! I was just reading about a 45 room place in England for sale, that had no indoor pumbing! Something like 4 and a half million dollars and no bathroom, what a deal!!

You've all heard the song about the "Green Door," but if you really want to get pickled, you need to head on over to the "Green Man" bar! The "Blue Man" group plays there every other Thursday!

On the left is Stephen (The Fiend Who Walked The West) McNally as the oh so sinister Count Karl von Bruno, and on the right is Richard (143 episodes of Robin Hood) Greene as Sir Ronald Burton, alias Richard Beckett, a man out to find out why a couple of his best friends died mysteriously!!

The always amazing Boris Karloff is Dr. Meissen! Boris not only makes a great Frankenstein, he also can play a benevolent Doctor with ease, and he's not messin' around!

Rita (The Body Snatcher) Corday is the evil Count's wife, Countess Elga von Bruno! I can't imagine why Rita changed her name from the name she was born with, Jeanne Paule Teipotemarga!! Even more so, her credits on this film are as Paula Corday!

Well, you can see where this is going, Sir Ronald and The Countess are getting along a lot better than him and The Count for some reason!

This is what you call a very strategically placed clue!!

What a pair of scalliwags! The Count is joined by his best buddy, Michael (Curse Of The Undead) Pate as Count Ernst von Melcher! It's amazing, not only do these two look like brothers, they're in the two movies in title that I always get mixed up about, "The Fiend That Walked The West," and "Curse Of The Undead!"

The duo of doom are joined here by yet another incredibly amazing talent, John (Attack Of The Puppet People, 2 Episodes of The Twilight Zone, and 3 Outer Limits) Hoyt as Count Steiken! It seems like the word Count must have been a pseudonym for stinkin' bastard back in the day! If there would have been two more counts, we could of had a "Psychotic Reaction!"

Okay, if you're not convinced yet, Lon Chaney Jr. is also in this film as the big lummox Gargon always sneaking into somebody's bedroom at night!!

Just in case he's not crazy enough, here's a hint as to why Count von Bruno wears an eyepatch!!

Just for kicks, The Count and his castle also sport an alligator pit that has to be circumvented thusly!!

Now if he just had a computer sitting in front of him, I'd say this is what I look like a lot of the time lately!!

"The Black Castle" might be 60 years olde, but I'm still not going to tell you how it started or ended! It's just that damn good! Don't take my word for it, see for yourself!!

Monday, June 11, 2012

ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE In Color / Republic Pictures - 1952

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is the colorized version of the Republic serial of the same name starring Judd Holdren as security agent Larry Martin, the Rocketman. Him and other agents investigate clandestine visits to the Earth by a Martian spaceship. And, the Martians have conspired with a traitorous American atomic scientist to blast Earth out of its orbit and replace it with Mars!

Eegah!! gave us a fun little soundclip to listen to, soooo, let's get this coaster rolling... You can push the big red 'GO' button there right below the zero, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some spacey sounds from... ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE!

Here are the mighty Martians on their way to Earth, ready to instigate their evil plans for conquest!

But, they're being monitored by Larry and his astute crew of security agents... Hey, I have a robot helmut sitting on my shelf, too!

The sleek competition red Martian cruiser makes a nice belly-slide landing in the hills outside town. Lane Bradford plays Marex, the Martian operation commander, and, Leonard Nimoy plays pilot and gopher, Narab!

Larry follows the bad guys around using his rocket suit. Judd Holdren played the airborne hero in ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE and was COMMANDO CODY, SKY MARSHALL OF THE UNIVERSE. Tristram Coffin was the Rocket Man in KING OF THE ROCKET MEN and George Wallace was Commando Cody in RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON.

Marex writes down the recipe for Martian menudo. Colorizing the skin is the best way to get those wild colors, grease paint just don't cut it! Another good example is the colorized version of MISSILE TO THE MOON where the Moon Girls' skin is turquoise, and, looks genuine. You can search our site for our review of that one!

GOIN' UP!!

Narab puts the ship on auto pilot and then mans the death-ray gun for a quick kill.

Larry is nearly deep-sixed in this cavern, but, wakes up and jumps out of the bucket just in the nick of time!

Them ding-dang robots ain't nuttin' but a big ol' pile-o-trouble!

These guys even sink a freakin' submarine with their speedboat! Love that top shot.

Will our heroes make it?!.. We'll see all you kids next week for the thrilling conclusion of... ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE!

This colorized version is only available on VHS.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

FIVE LOOSE WOMEN - "Fugitive Girls" (1974)

Well, the reason we're here tonight, is to pay homage to the Great One in his last film, Edward Davis Wood Jr. This film was originally titled "Five Loose Women" but this version was re-released as "Fugitive Girls!" It was written by Ed Wood and Stephen C. Apostolof!

They were already at the liquor store, might as well make one more movie!

This is Rene Bond as Toni! The botched robbery by her boyfriend has now turned into a murder, and suddenly Toni's world is turned upside down! Up to this point in her career, Rene had pretty much only done movies with titles like "Beach Blanket Bango" and "Flesh Gordon!!"

Next stop, The Big House! Reminds me of my first day in The Army! Who wants to demonstrate the leaning rest position?? Rene Bond is joined here by Margie (NAZI SEX EXPERIMENTS) Lanier as Dee, Donna (THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES) Young as Shiela, Tallie (WAM BAM THANK YOU SPACEMAN) Cochrane as Kat, and Jabie Abercrombie as Paula!

Toni is forced against her will to go along with a breakout! Luckily, the authorities never considered getting some hounds that could actually smell!

The girls stumble upon a bunch of smelly hippies living out in the boondocks stoned, wild and free!!

Not really porn like most of the rest of her films, but they still give Rene and the rest of the gals lots of opportunities to take their shirts off!!

The owner of this Caddy finds out the hard way that he should have listened when his Mom told him to never pick up hitchhikers!

Ed Wood gets credit for Pop, the gas station attendant who blows the whistle on the girls!

Some stupid bikers stage a fake accident to try and get the ladies attention.........

............But they only end up getting their butts whupped real bad, and looking like a bunch of wimps!!

Despite the vast array of talent, this movie is missing something! Maybe it's just that for some people it's more difficult to act when they have their clothes on!!!

Ed Wood strikes a pensive pose in the uncredited role as the Sheriff!

The music for "Fugitive Girls" is all over the place and also uncredited! I know I've heard that pounding theme used in the action scenes before, but I can't remember where right now, and does it really matter anyway?

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??